"that he may not keep or carry arms"

   "The Revolution found the negro in America a slave. Where are the acts or constitutions which have declared him a citizen, entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States? They have no existence. He is everywhere inferior to the white man, as well by the laws of the States as of the United States. In the State of Massachusetts, always foremost in the work of liberty, the free negro is under considerable disabilities--one of which is, that he is not enrolled in the militia. If he comes into that State from another, he must show a certificate from the Secretary of State of his freedom, or he will be seized and deported. In Delaware free negroes convicted of larceny may be sold. If one of them comes into that State from another, he forfeits ten dollars per week for the time of his stay, and if he does not pay the penalty he is sold. In Virginia the free negro has no political, and very few civil rights. He is forbidden to come into that State; and if he does come, he is seized and removed. In Ohio he is not permitted to vote, and in North Carolina, although he is allowed the right of suffrage, yet he, and his posterity to the third generation, are refused the privilege of giving testimony in a court of justice, where a white man is a party. By the laws of the United States the negro is refused the privilege of being naturalized; and in the code adopted for the government of this District, (which is the laws of the adjacent States,) it is provided that, on the trial of a free negro for a crime a slave may be a witness; that a free negro may not marry a white woman; that it is criminal to employ him, unless he has a certificate of registry; that he may not keep or carry arms, and is punishable for lifting his hand against a white man; and by the law incorporating the City of Washington, passed by this present Congress, a colored servant is made liable to be punished by stripes for a breach of the ordinances of the city."--Mr. A. Smyth, of Virginia, Saturday, December 9, 1820. Missouri--Citizenship of Free Persons of Color. U.S. House of Representatives.

[ABRIDGMENT OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS, FROM 1789 TO 1856. FROM GALES AND SEATON'S ANNALS OF CONGRESS; FROM THEIR REGISTER OF DEBATES; AND FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORTED DEBATES. BY JOHN C. RIVES. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE THIRTY YEARS' VIEW. VOL. VII. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 346 & 348 BROADWAY. 1858. Pg. 80]